I'm generally happy with PotP Rodimus Prime, but I just wanted to improve the arm/shoulder articulation a little bit. I made the new biceps joint with plastic plates and a ball-joint. Now, Rodimus can open arms (but not too much) without raising his shoulders. In photos, you see the custom parts in gray. (they were still work in progress) Here's the close-up view of the custom joint: In action: My copy of Rodimus Prime had almost no eyes. They were just narrow, black slits. When I opened up the head, I found that Rodimus did have painted eyes, attached to the back of the head. The holes on the face were just too small to show that. So I cut the front piece a little bit to make the eyes visible, and I put some metallic stickers I had at home for extra visibility. The head parts were held together by a screw and also a pin. When I opened the head, I broke the pin, so if anyone wants to attempt the face mod, just be careful. Anyway, in alt-mode: I made also a cover to hide the space between the arms. This cover piece can be stored in the backpack in the bot mode (hence the funny shape): Now I need to polish the parts a little bit more and clean them up, and then paint them in red.
Thank you all for the feedback. Now I'm working on the cosmetic side. I added some pla-plates. When I said "pin," I meant the broken part that you see in the photo:
Oh, wow, that's weird. First time I've seen a pin I think used on the head like that. Usually it's just a screw. Great mods btw! Looks good.
Ok, I got busy with work and then got flu and then got busy again, and so on, but I managed to finish the project. I just had to add some details and paint them, but I hate painting! Anyway, because the arms are moving more, the holes inside forearms became more visible and annoying. So I had to make a cover for that: And then painted: Here's the close-up view of the cover + the replacement forearm parts: I painted the replacement parts in 2 different colors: the lighter red for the front, and the darker red for the back. Here's the alt-mode: 1) Because of the covers I made for the inner-side of the forearms, the hole on the top became less annoying. In the end, I decided not to cover the space there and leave it like that. 2) The darker red didn't match the red from the rest of the body, but somehow it doesn't annoy me, so I decided not to repaint them. Again, because the arms are moving much more, the holes on the down-side of the fists became more visible and started to be really annoying. So I filled them up and painted them with gray. I also painted the hands of Hot Rod in gray, which you can see a little bit here. Now I'm quite satisfied!
